reflection ● jason grace

A bad good thing

Reyna was still sore from last night.

She could feel bruises where pellets of hot coal and metal bullets landed. To no one's surprise, Daria and Michael won. She had partnered with Mitch and it was nearly a three-way tie, but Jason and Reyna were too focused on targeting each other to pay attention to any other team.

Speaking of Daria, she was sitting next to her, a proud grin on her face. Reyna heard her laugh at something Clara said and almost grinned involuntarily. Daria Jackson...Reyna shook her head. She really was something.

"No but," Daria leaned across the table, nearly catching the sleeve of her sweater on her waffles. "Do you think Dakota would sell all of us for some grape Kool-Aid?"

Reyna raised her eyebrows, sharing a glance with Michael who was sitting on her left. There were two sides to Daria: serious leadership and a really bad sense of humor.

Dakota snorted. "Jason I would sell for grape. The rest of you are worth at least cherry limeade."

Jason looked up when his name was mentioned. "Koda, what the hell?"

"Yeah Dakota," Clara said with a very pointed glance in the son of Jupiter's direction. "We don't want Jason ignoring us for another three months, do we?"

"That," Jason frowned, pointing a fork at her. "Was uncalled for."

Reyna didn't think it was. Jason was her best friend; over the last couple months, she had spoken to him the most (except for maybe Dakota since they were in the same cohort), and even then she got one-word answers and annoyed dismissals.

At first, she thought it was because of Daria. Anyone who couldn't see the three-way contest that Reyna, Michael, and Jason had going for her attention was either blind or stupid. Though Jason claimed he didn't like her, Reyna could tell he was lying to himself.

But it was more than that. Reyna and Daria had gossiped about whatever Daniel and Jason talked about when doors were closed. It seemed like they had their own agenda that Leila wasn't a part of, though the daughter of Luna was basically running the whole camp at this point. But that was besides the point; Reyna knew how much Daria hated not knowing what was going on.

When Reyna tuned back in, she found with surprise that Mitch and Daniel had stopped at their table. The couple was in high spirits today, even though it was so cold that the wind made Reyna's head hurt. Mitch, the taller of the two, had one arm wrapped around Daniel's shoulder, but the praetor didn't seem to notice.

"-an announcement. Though, whether you two are going to like it, I'm not sure."

"But I thought you said it was a good thing," Jason said, eyebrows raised. "Are you trying to trick us?"

Daniel's lips were set in a hard line, giving nothing away. He turned to his other protege, "what do you think, Daria?"

Daria looked cute until she focused on her prey. Then, Reyna thought she looked almost like a goddess: intelligent and all-knowing. She narrowed her eyes, searching the son of Hekate's face. It only took her three seconds to arrive at her conclusion. "I think it'll be...fun, for you. I also think that statement was more directed at me than Jason."

Mitch whistled. "She's good."

Daniel hit him, as if he'd committed a crime by complimenting Daria. "She's fine," he corrected. "And of course she is. I trained her."

Micheal shook his head. "Your backhanded compliments are an artform."

Daniel gave him a sarcastic grin. "Hey thanks. I'll teach you." He spotted Leila motion for him to go to the praetor table. "Don't hate us too much, Dars."